Why Put Yourself to the Test with the NGE or NLE?

It is the Classical Language Exam Time of the Year!

by Amy Barr, The Lukeion Project

This week’s blog is going to be a bit more specific to TheLukeion Project as we discuss the National Greek Exam (March 2, 2020) and The National Latin Exam (March 9, 2020). I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about why we participate in these exams and offer some last-minute encouragement as you prepare for these competitions.

Why does The Lukeion Project participate in the NGE and NLE each year?

There are a zillion different approaches, curricula, and programs that promise students a chance to study Latin and Classical Greek. Sadly, some of these approaches offer no more than vague language familiarity, even after several years of “hard work.” Others—especially The Lukeion Project—make language mastery the goal. How can we make this claim without some standardized exam results to back us up? More importantly, how can you –the student—claim to have attained excellence without some standardized test results to back you up? Participating in the NLE/NGE is a great opportunity to compare your efforts to other students worldwide.

“The National Greek Examination in 2019 enrolled 1774 students from 173 high schools, colleges, and universities in the US and around the world.” There are seven levels: Introduction to Greek, Beginning Attic, Intermediate Attic, Homeric Odyssey, Homeric Iliad, Prose, and Tragedy. The exam is offered by the American Classical League.

Roughly 140,000 students take the NLE. “The National LatinExam (NLE) is a test given annually to Latin students across the United States and around the world. The NLE is not meant to be a competition but rather an opportunity for students to receive reinforcement and recognition for their accomplishments in the classroom. Depending upon their score, students may earn certificates, medals, and may even qualify for scholarships.” The exam is sponsored by the American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League and is offered to students on seven levels.

Neither the NGE nor the NLE exams are based on any specific textbook series so students will be put to the test in a fair comparison across the board. Roughly half of the students who participate worldwide will earn honors at varying levels. On average, 95% of Lukeion Latin students and 90% of Lukeion Greek students earn honors each year. For the NLE, Lukeion students typically earn in the ballpark of 3% of all perfect papers scored each year worldwide.

Shouldn’t I “wait until I’m better” at the languages before taking the test for the first time?

Both the NGE and NLE exams come in 7 forms and are meant to be taken annually for every level completed by the student. Students gain valuable experience by taking exams yearly and they might also be awarded special book awards (and even a shot at scholarships) if they earn gold medals for three successive years. Around a dozen Lukeion advanced students (NLE III – NLE VI) will be awarded prestigious book awards for three (or more) years of success annually. While scholarships are very limited, students are only offered the chance to apply for them after completing the NLE III level. So, take the exam that corresponds to your level from the start (we do not offer the Intro level for our students)

Do I get credit in my language class? If not, why bother to study?

Much satisfaction can be realized when one prepares well for a challenge and when one is recognized for the attainment of mastery of that challenge. This fact has been true about human beings for as long as we have records regarding the fastest, smartest, and bravest. There’s a tremendous feeling of success shared by those who compete and do well in sports, debate, performance, cooking, painting, or…Greek and Latin! Working hard is its own reward but getting a bit of extra recognition for that hard work – at the international level – is a nice boost to one’s confidence.

Taking any exam makes me nervous so why voluntarily take something like the NLE or NGE?

Many of us are naturally exam adverse. Reasons can include test-anxiety, fears of failure, or maybe a little laziness, truth be told. Academic tests are inevitable unless you plan to quit your formal education quite young. The only thing that makes all those inevitable quizzes, tests, and exams more endurable is practice and experience. The NLE and NGE offer the added benefit of (a) not causing any permanent damage to your transcript if things go badly, and (b) the potential of much laud and honor if things go well. In other words, do your best but there's nothing to lose.

So, why voluntarily put yourself through extra study effort over the next few days leading up to your NGE and NLE dates? For now, you’ll improve your language mastery, which will benefit your course grade. In the future, you’ll demonstrate your language mastery, which will strengthen your future transcripts. In the long run, you’ll attain language mastery, which will strengthen every part of your thinking, writing, and speaking henceforth!   

History is a Labyrinth (not a Line)

Time Meanders More than You Know

By Amy Barr, The Lukeion Project

History timelines can be fine teaching tools. They provide a crisp visual to help us understand where goalposts stand as we look backward. Goalposts can help us see cause and effect, such as when the printing press lead to a surge in literacy; automobiles enticed people from cramped cities into suburbia; soap extended lifespans and freshened the air. But history really isn’t simple, and it is never a straight path. Connecting dots to make a few straight-line history lessons tends to leave out lots of dots!
Relationships between world events are less like timelines and more like ripples in a pond or crisscrossed spider webs. To appreciate history, you must meander a labyrinth, not walk a line. 
Specific dates of even major historical events are seldom known with certainty as we travel further back in time. Humans have recently all gotten together to rely on a neat 12-month calendar and a new year each January 1st. They mostly do so now only because our computers and airports require this common time language. Some nations enjoy more than one date-keeping system to accommodate technology and tradition at the same time.
Before computers helped standardize date keeping across the globe, humans recorded events by calculating the time since the last Olympiad, the years since the start of a king’s rule, the decades since the last eclipse, or the centuries since a city was founded. Serious historians don’t just flip to a single commonly accepted timeline when they want to talk about when things happened. A good bit more math and mystery must be solved to build goalposts on the ancient timeline.
How can one mark a permanent “X” on the timeline of history? Consider the founding of Rome. Textbooks tell us Remus lost the bid to name the city to his twin, Romulus, in 753 BC. The actual date of this fraternal squabble was debated for centuries by the Romans themselves. Over 700 years after the event some Romans favored the theory it all took place on April 21st soon before an eclipse calculated 438 years after the fall of Troy (Velleius Paterculus, 8). An equally compelling theory put Rome’s founding in 747 BC, dating it to the 8th Olympiad.
After the monarchy, the Romans themselves mostly kept track of time by the name of the two consuls in charge each year. Romans started counting years after Rome was founded using the AUC system (ab urbe condita). In AD 525 Dionysius Exiguus attempted to calculate the year of Christ’s birth and started numbering the years of history from that point starting with AD 1 (anno domini).  All years prior to that date were later termed in English “BC” for “Before Christ.” This way of numbering years did not catch on broadly until after AD 800. Historical scholars working with all primary texts for events prior to AD 800 need to be chronologically savvy about the various dating systems in play.
Knowing what year it was could be problematic for an ancient person. Knowing what day it was could be impossible. Trial and error taught people some systems were more reliable than others. The moon was an easy calendar guide since it was visible everywhere, and lunar cycles divided the year into months of 29 or 30 days. Lunar months don’t add up to 365 ¼ days a year. Every few decades the days and months drifted out of season. Harvest holidays would show up in icy winter and spring holidays were celebrated in sweaty summer. In Rome, politicians were asked to toss in an extra month to even things out. It was hard to write to a friend in Thrace or Egypt to meet in Athens or Rome on a definite day. Everyone kept track of dates a bit differently. Appointments always allowed for plenty of flexibility.
On February 24 in AD 1582, a large part of the planet got on-board with the solar calendar system we use today. All Catholic countries of Europe agreed to keep time the same way when an edict was issued by Pope Gregory XIII. His reason for strictly regulating the calendar was so all Christians could celebrate Easter on the same day. This idea was first suggested by the church fathers at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 but the idea got stuck in committee for a very (very) long time. 
This Gregorian calendar of AD 1582 fixed flaws in the older system set up in 45 BC by Roman statesman Julius Caesar. That wily old politician won the powerful office Pontifex Maximus early in his career. Among other perks, his job as Pontifex required him to declare an intercalary month between February and March as needed whenever the months of the year started to get off track. Ever the consummate politician, he took the best advantage of the situation. He was allowed to make some years longer to extend the political terms of allies, or make them shorter is an adversary was in office.
With a hectic schedule of conquering Gaul, fighting Pompey, and touring Egypt meant the Roman calendar was neglected by Caesar too long. He finally found a moment to fix time in 46 BC. In addition to the traditional spare month between February and March, he added another 67 days between November and December. That year seemed to go on endlessly, but Caesar’s new Julian calendar was a hit. It followed the solar year closely and the Romans enjoyed the luxury of knowing when summer started, when to make plans for Saturnalia, and when to plant a garden. 
“March,” “April,” “May,” “June,” plus “September” (7), “October” (8), “November” (9) and “December” (10) were named by Romulus in his original 10-month calendar.  The next king added January and February to the start of the year. Months named “seven” through “ten” became months nine through twelve evermore. The Roman month Quintilis would be later be renamed “July” but only after Julius was slain. The month Sextilis became “August” to honor Caesar’s heir, the first Roman emperor Augustus.  Other emperors tried to rename months but failed (thankfully). Emperor Commodus, for example, energetically named all the months after himself. The Romans quickly flushed those names down the drain once he died.
Relationships between people, places and events can make history a wonderful web of cause and effect. Like ripples in a pond during a rainstorm, events combine and overlap with surprising results. Each nation has used different ways to mark time. As you study history this year, make marking time part of the puzzle to be solved.       

3 High School Skills for College Success

By Amy Barr

As your high school years zoom by, you’ll find yourself increasingly preoccupied with things like where to go to college, scores on excruciatingly long standardized tests, GPA points, transcripts, and how to handle college tuition costs. Stay the course! There’s going to be some nice satisfaction when you (or if you are the parent, your child) gets that college acceptance letter. All the inner critics can hush up. Well done! but are you ready to succeed once those first college classes start?

The next level will bring a fresh set of challenges. Peculiar cafeteria food and roommate troubles are as predictable as too little campus parking and overpriced textbooks. Some college troubles are easy to anticipate. Others will be unpleasant surprises unless you prepare now during his high school years. Getting to college is actually the easy part. Staying there is the real challenge. To help, I’ve come up with three common-sense skills you must develop during your high school years. Work on these now. Enjoy smooth(er) sailing later.

1. Develop Excellent Research Writing Skills and Practice them Frequently in High School

Creative writing tends to take center stage because let’s face it, research writing can sound intimidating to all involved so it is easier to do (and to assign) the creative projects. At college, research writing is the must-have skill that professors will assign but will not likely teach.
With a phone in every pocket and a computer or tablet in every backpack, data is now incredibly easy to find. College educators have shifted to focus on one’s ability to analyze and synthesize copious amounts of data. Whether you want a degree in law, business, biology, engineering, or even Classics, you must know how to find reliable sources, research well, and then write precisely, analytically and persuasively. Don’t start college unless you have practiced research writing several times or there will be struggles ahead.

In classical education, the rhetoric stage includes high school and college years. This is when the human mind is well suited to the development of research writing skills. Students are ready to research facts and complex ideas then express logical answers to important questions as they persuade others with clear analytical writing.  In practical terms, start writing research papers early in high school so that this skill has time to become college-ready.

Homeschool Parents: If you have misgivings about how to teach this subject to your student, enlist the aid of others who teach or write research pieces professionally. Find friends with degrees in research fields and sweet-talk them into objectively grading your young writer’s efforts. Encourage your teen’s co-op teachers to assign research papers in high school classes. Be willing to master research writing for yourself while you both develop writing skills.
 

2. Train for “adulting skills” while still in high school

The skills needed to boost college success are often simple “adulting skills” that should be sharpened well before dorm move-in day. Common-sense abilities like money management, self-control, and determination will help throughout college, career, marriage, and life. Knowing how to change a tire and cook a decent meal are icing on the cake!

An essential college skill is time-management. Many students who fail at college did so because they weren’t able to balance social activities and part-time jobs with their need to study, sleep, do some laundry, grab some decent food, and get to class. To avoid time management disasters, learn to juggle your own schedule now while you can still cheaply handle a few disasters. At college, mangled schedules will cost time, money, and tuition. Find a planning system and learn how to use it now instead of after a disaster happens.

Homeschool Parents: If you are still doing all the scheduling, organizing, and teaching during your teen’s high school years, your first step is to hand much of the job off to your teen. Have him take over his own academic and life schedule. Let him work out his own academic planning. Walk him through the process of evaluating his course load and learn how to allot the time needed for each subject. Have him plan for trips, work, music lessons, sports, and free time. Making mid-course adjustments to a hectic schedule is part of the learning package, no extra charge.

3. Practice healthy failure recovery

Parents: As a master of one’s own schedule, the student must suffer the consequences for poor planning, even if it means she earns a low score on a quiz or paper. The resolve of many well-meaning parents melts when the student’s transcript pays the price of priorities gone awry. If procrastination is your teen’s struggle it is better to earn a poor grade now than fail in college. Understanding his own limitations means he’s on his way to better time management. He is also on his way to developing the third most practical college skill: failure recovery.

Learning how to recover from a failed task is vital. Mastering this piece of the puzzle will make all the difference. College will be an untidy mix of positive and negative experiences that ultimately teach us a lot about ourselves. If your teen is crushed by even minor setbacks now, you’ll need to practice healthy recovery every chance you get before freshman orientation.
High school is a time of countless mental changes. The process will feel like three steps forward, two steps back. Use these four years wisely to help your student mature in these three areas. May too few parking spaces, weird roommates, and questionable cafeteria food be the worst disasters she’ll suffer in her college years.